WHERE IT ALL BEGAN ~

HER NICHE WAS RADIO!   

As a young girl, Kathie was always talking.  But being loquacious would pay off many years later with Kathie Adler's radio shows. In high school, Kathie was a varsity cheerleader who loved going to football games and cheering for her team, the Uniondale Knights. Her favorite subject in high school was English, and she also loved writing and poetry. Her English teacher, Miss Gaffney, was Kathie's favorite teacher. Miss Gaffney wrote in Kathie's 1964 senior yearbook, "To Kathie, who talks incessantly, but has more than enough charm to be excused."  Now, when you feel your children talk too much, realize that they can have a future in radio because they can keep on talking!

BACKGROUND ~ HISTORY

With a father who did not always have the utmost patience with Kathie (although she always knew she was loved), having a compliment from a teacher you respect can be a breath of fresh air. And to this day, Kathie Adler still remembers Miss Gaffney, her interesting English class, and Miss Gaffney's comment in Kathie's high school yearbook. Kathie had one sister, Patricia Ann (3 years older than Kathie) and one brother, Anthony (10 years younger), both of whom are now at home with Jesus. Kathie's brother, Tony, was born with cerebral palsy due to a loss of oxygen at birth after a doctor/hospital mishap. He was never able to walk or talk or feed himself, but having a disabled brother created compassion in Kathie and her sister. Their brother  was a joy to every one of his caregivers throughout his life. He was their "favorite" because he was always happy and always laughing. Tony's sisters, Kathie and Pat, took care of their brother and were like Tony's second and third mothers.

PIANO

Kathie began taking piano lessons at age thirteen. Her father was thrilled when she progressed from playing the accordion (he would not get her a piano till she mastered the accordion) and began taking piano lessons from Fred Mendelsohn,  who headed up the music department at Uniondale High School. For years, even after getting married in 1972, Kathie continued taking piano lessons and majored in classical piano. She found a concert pianist in Stony Brook who played at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. Kathie considered this teacher to be "incredible." Kathie also took lessons from Larry Pearlstein, a band leader from Plainview, who taught her how to play by chords and not just sheet music. He taught her some jazz, and this was a very enjoyable time for Kathie.  She thoroughly enjoyed her piano lessons from a tiny lady named Fanny who encouraged her to "never stop taking lessons."

FAITH

Growing up in Uniondale on the same block as St. Martha's Catholic School, Kathie's mother concentrated on caring for her disabled brother (a full-time job), and her father was an alcoholic who drowned out his severe back pain from six spinal surgeries during World War II until he found Jesus Christ as his Savior in the 1960's.  Her father never touched a drop of alcohol after that! Because of his wife Mary's modeling of Christian character, Kathie's father found Jesus Christ and was a completely changed man. Kathie's grandmother, Josephine, was a stalwart Christian, loving, kind, joyful! Kathie's grandmother greatly influenced the family with her love for God and her godly example. Kathie's mother came to Christ first, then Kathie came next, then her father, and finally her sister, Pat. Attending an Oral Robert Crusade in Hempstead, NY on December 11, 1966 changed Kathie's life. She heard the invitation to accept Jesus Christ as her personal Savior, and she said to her mother, "Let's go." Both went forward together, and Kathie Adler prayed to receive Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. Having a grandmother who prayed for the family for many years and modeled Christ before them all is the reason Kathie's entire family came to know God in their lives. 

CULT MINISTRY

In mid 1975 and 1976, Kathie was conducting a weekly Bible study in her home with a few Christian women. One of the women, a neighbor of Kathie's parents, also attended the Bible study. One day, the woman came to Kathie's Bible study and mentioned Jehovah's Witnesses. They had recently knocked on her door and straightened her out "on the Trinity." 

In September of 1976, this dear woman and one of her daughters was killed in a car accident on the Long Island Expressway. She was on the way to her father-in-law's funeral when the accident occurred. The woman's death was announced live on radio, something that would never happen today. Kathie and her husband were in their bedroom getting dressed for the father-in-law's funeral as they knew the family. Kathie had the radio on, perhaps 1010 Wins, and the announcer began describing a terrible car crash going Westbound on the Long Island Expressway. Kathie was in shock when the announcer mentioned the woman's name, and that she had been killed in the accident. This was a great tragedy for the woman's family as they lost their father, their daughter-in-law, a wife, and also a daughter.

KATHIE GOES ON THE AIR

Precipitated by this sad event, Kathie's desire was to help cult members and change their lives. She heard of a ministry called CARIS (Christian Apologetics Research and Information Service) located in California. The organization had a co-ministry called the HELP JESUS MINISTRY, an off shoot of CARIS, which ministered to people in the cults. Kathie joined that organization. She decided there had to be a way to get the word out about the cults other than writing literature, so Kathie started a Christian radio show in 1979 and began teaching about the cults. 

Kathie Adler's radio program aired live on WLIX Radio for fifteen minutes every Saturday morning at 11:30 am. WLIX was a Christian radio station, and Kathie's program was on the air for two years in 1979 and 1980. Kathie was referred to an attorney by Sister Celeste Horvath, an evangelist in Bay Shore, so he could incorporate Kathie's Christian ministry as a 501(c)(3), a federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization in the U.S. as defined by the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). (Note: Sister Celeste Horvath had a prison ministry, and Kathie's mother, Mary, was her soloist.) Kathie called her ministry Narrow Way Ministries. Kathie's founding board members were her Christian grandmother, her mother Mary, and a close friend of hers who lived on her block. The attorney did not charge Kathie a fee for the incorporation, saying, "I believe in what you are doing."  

Sister Celeste was a great woman of God with a big heart She started a soup kitchen in New York City and faithfully fed the homeless every single Friday night, not missing a night. She was very faithful to the homeless. The church that she founded, Love and Mercy Fellowship,  is still located in Bay Shore, New York called Love and Mercy Fellowship and is now pastored by Rev. Debbie Mitchell.  

Kathie's mother passed away two months after her 62nd birthday on March 15, 1984. She died at a hospital.  Her death was due to a physician's oversights in her care prior to entering the hospital for open-heart surgery and also due to hospital's unfortunate errors. This was a terrible tragedy in Kathie's life as her mother was her very best friend and the soloist at Kathie's seminars. Despite her loss, in 1985 Kathie went back on WLIX Radio from1985 to 1988 (four years) with a new program called STRAIGHT TALK WITH KATHIE ADLER which aired five nights a week for thirty minutes each night.  

Kathie's first show was entitled, "Mothers Are God's Special People." The program was about mothers, her mother in particular. Kathie taught programs on the topics of Jonestown, the Moonies, the Watchtower, the Mormons, and other cult groups. She interviewed former cult members who broke away from a cult as well as parents who lost their sons or daughters to a cult. She interviewed nationally known teachers on cults and apologetics like Dr. Robert Morey, a great friend and brilliant teacher (author of over 60 books) and taught basic Christian beliefs as well as how to witness to cult members. Kathie produced programs with her good friend, Carl Lang, on the topic of AIDS, Heaven, The Early Church, The Last Temptation of Christ movie, and interviewed a Messianic believer. These programs encompassed about sixteen weeks!

During 1988, a WLIX listener survey ranked Kathie Adler's radio program number five in popularity among the more than thirty programs on the station. Though not syndicated, Kathie's radio show ranking was in the top five among Chuck Smith, Chuck Swindoll, Dr. Dobson, and two other well-known teachers.  In all, Kathie produced 950 radio broadcasts over four years until the program went off the air In October of 1988.  Kathie Adler conducted seminars at many churches on Long Island, and her ministry was recognized by counter-cult ministries nationwide who shared her burden to reach out to the cults with the Gospel.

After contracting Epstein Barr Virus in 1988 and owing the radio station about $13,000 for airtime, Kathie and her husband decided it was time to go off the air. It took them four years to pay off that debt! Today, Kathie still offers her literature on the cults, and she has written three children's books (allegories on the cults for kids), and is working on an important project.  Be patient as there will be free downloads of teaching on the cults and the books for kids will also be available. God bless you!